Phillies and former Phillies are getting the full treatment from ESPN.com today. In addition to Jayson Stark’s interesting story about Randy Wolf’s pre-Spring Training workout routine, Alan Schwarz talks hitting with Ryan Howard.
Howard told Schwarz:
“Everybody from the outside looks at us like power hitters, and I think we look at ourselves as contact hitters with power.”
Meanwhile, Baseball Prospectus’ Christina Kahrl broke down the Phillies’ off-season moves, and guess what? They aren’t so bad. Here’s the part that stood out:
Obscure Good Move: Adding Jayson Werth seems like an interesting enough risk, giving the Phillies a nice tandem of outfield reserves between Werth and Shane Victorino. PECOTA is willing to believe that Werth could even provide the club with a fix for their right-field needs, projecting him to hit .268/.358/.469 with a .284 Equivalent Average. He'll have to show that he can stay healthy first, of course; if anyone's going to get the black spot from Will Carroll, it might be Werth. Dealing Conine creates opportunities for Coste to handle the reserve duties at first, and might even make for roster space for Dobbs. Dobbs was miscast as a useful regular anything in Seattle, but as a back o'the bench, pinch-hitting type with modest power and contact abilities, he might stick and provide some value. He'll probably have to beat out Chris Roberson, though, and Charlie Manuel might decide he'd rather have a guy who can run.